This invention relates generally to dispensing devices and, more particularly, to a dispenser of cotton material in user-defined portions. With the present invention, a user is able to obtain cotton ball type material of selected sizes automatically upon the press of a button.
Cotton balls or swabs are most often used in the medical community during medical procedures, whether to apply a medicament such as iodine to a wound, to absorb fluids such as blood, or to wipe away unsanitary substances. Similarly, cotton balls are often used in the home environment for similar purposes. Cotton materials used for these purposes are often sold in packages of multiple predetermined size balls or in bulk form in which individual pieces must be torn off for use.
Although assumably effective for their intended use, both types of traditional packaging has its disadvantages. For instance, to obtain a single cotton ball from a package of cotton balls requires a user to physically handle multiple balls that may be stuck together and then return unneeded cotton balls to the package. Similarly with a bulk of cotton material, the entire bulk must be physically handled in order to tear off a desired quantity. In either case, the required handling of the cotton may introduce undesirable contamination to unused cotton balls or to the bulk of cotton.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a cotton dispenser that is powered and which dispenses the precise amount of cotton desired by a user. Further, it would be desirable to have a cotton dispenser that does not require any physical handling of stored cotton by a person. In addition, it would be desirable to have a cotton dispenser that enables a user to pre-load or re-load a spool of cotton into a housing.